Outside the Walls
by astrophilic
Summary: Music is the sweetest escape. Fantasy AU. : : Mikan Sakura has been trapped behind looming gray walls for as long as she can remember. When two runaways unintentionally save her, she discovers both life's splendor and life's sorrows, and soon finds herself dancing to the tune of revolution.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Gakuen Alice! The song Mikan sings in this chapter is _Lonely Day _by _Phantom Planet_.  
><strong>Author's Notes: <strong>Magic, bickering, EXTREMELY ALTERNATE UNIVERSE. Just so you know. Oh, and _maybe_ this could be seen as a Rapunzel parody, but meh. That wasn't my intention. This is a rewrite & repost of a fic I almost abandoned. (And then I switched accounts, so.)

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><p><strong>Prologue<br>**_"Music could ache and hurt, that beautiful music was a place a suffering man could hide." ― Pat Conroy_

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><p>Long-lashed, hazel eyes slowly blinked open as pale sunlight streamed through a window with thick bars. It was early morning. The owner of the doe-like eyes sat up and yawned, stretching her pale, slender arms.<p>

She stood up gingerly on the cold, concrete floor, looking around the empty room with the sleepily uninterested air of one who knew exactly what they would see. Her bare feet were used to the coolness of the floor, and she moved around like it wasn't emitting a crippling cold.

In the middle of the floor was a tray that held a pile of freshly-baked bread lathered in butter. Sitting next to it was a glass filled with water, which tasted vaguely of mint. She bit into a piece of warm bread hungrily, closing her eyes and taking in the light aroma of yeast.

Hot bread and cool water were always there when she woke up. It was natural for her to go to sleep when she felt hungry; by the time she opened her eyes, food would be there, whether she had been hungry or not. She didn't question it. She didn't know things should have been different. It had been like that for as long as she could remember, and so far, her memory had not told her otherwise.

She finished two more pieces of bread, and sipped at her water. She softly hummed an oddly familiar tune as she held the glass, misty fingerprints condensing on where she held it. Maybe she had only dreamed the tune, maybe she had just made it up, but she could, at times, drudge up a memory with a rocking sensation, and woman's voice humming it to her. She liked to think that it was her _mother's_ voice, and so clung to the tune like a child would cling to a security blanket.

Why she clung to it was a mystery to her, except that the tune gave her a warm feeling, a feeling of love and security. It made her feel safe, which was odd, since she knew that nothing could hurt her inside the room. Even though she thought of the empty room she currently occupied as her home, there were always lingering feelings of doubt, of loneliness.

She didn't know why.

Her gaze flickered over to an ancient guitar in the corner of her room, sitting next to a small, piano-colored xylophone. The guitar was old, yes, but it functioned well. She grabbed it and plucked gently at the strings. After a few seconds, she started singing softly, her eyes on the single barred window in the room.

Singing was her morning ritual, a way of filling the silence that shrouded her. Music was her life, her escape, her ideal to fight off all those confusing emotions welling inside of her.

_I could tell from the minute I woke up _  
><em>It was going to be a lonely lonely<em>  
><em>lonely lonely day.<em>

She paused, mouth twisting. She started to strum harder, the tune turning into something jagged and sharp.

_Rise and shine rub the sleep out of my eyes  
>And try to tell myself I can't<br>go back to bed_

_It's gonna be a lonely lonely lonely lonely_—

She broke off_. _Her throat closed up. She shook her head, as if trying to shake something off. _It's not healthy, Mikan_, _stop making yourself sad, _she scolded herself in her mind grimly.

She stood up, still holding the guitar, and walked towards another side of the room. She put the guitar gently down on the freezing concrete.

She reached for a wooden box, fingering it as she stepped closer to the looming gray, concrete wall in front of her. She pulled out a cashmere pastel, the soft color of a sunset. She knew this because she spent many hours of her time staring out of the window, her legs crossed and her chin propped up with her hand, watching the sky turn from crimson and gold to endless blue to dark black and back again.

_I should be happy._

The thought came to her out of nowhere, but she knew it was true. So why wasn't she?

She sat down on her legs, pressing her lips together for an instant. She put the wooden box down and pressed the pastel on the wall. She wrote gently, taking care not break the old crayon. She stopped, briefly strummed some notes, and wrote on the wall again.

After an hour, she had written about ten measures of a song, this time with no words.

A smile played on her lips. She was in complete bliss, lost in thoughts about chords and notes. Music made her completely happy. It made her forget so many unexplainable sorrows— until she wrote the lyrics. All the lyrics she wrote... Well, they sure didn't sound _happy_.

She stared at the walls around the room. She had started writing on them only a few years ago. The pastels were always there, but she didn't want to use them all. She was afraid they'd all be gone long before she died.

She assumed that she would stay in there for the rest of her life, and nothing happened that showed that the outcome would change anytime soon.

Dull. Everything was so dull. And she didn't know what was more to be lived.

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><p>A pair of teenage boys jumped through the trees, deep inside a forest they had never dared to step foot in before. They were panting heavily and sweat beaded their foreheads, which, on one of them, was scrunched up in frustration. Shouts rang clearly as they sprinted deeper into the trees, not caring at all if they got lost. In truth, they were keen to the thought.<p>

"Spoiled brats! Get back here!"

"Don't call them brats! Idiot!"

"Come back, you three!"

At the last remark, the boys widened their eyes in alarm. Three? Nobody else had come with them, had there? Their eyes met, having a silent exchange. _Had there? _They looked back and their eyes darted around as they ran, but there was no sign that anyone else was running with them.

Half-hearted smirks flitted quickly across both of their handsome faces. Did these people really think they would fall for that? They increased their speed, ducking their heads down. They weren't going to be caught just yet.

The trees changed, their branches dipped low, and seemed to be grabbing out to them, leaves hissing as they bolted past. The ground thumped from the impact of their steps, which were getting slower every second.

One of them stumbled on a large tree root, making the other to grab and roughly pull him along. "Just a little while.. longer.." the boy muttered to his companion. His companion nodded in fierce determination and started running again.

The shouts of their pursuers were slowly fading away. This part of the forest, with its low-branched trees and gnarled roots, seemed to be too dense for their liking. One of the runaways started to smile, while the other set his jaw and ran faster.

"When're we.. going to.. stop?" the smiling one asked, keeping up. The other one glared at him, as if to say, _Don't you dare grin at a time like this_.

The goofy smile was wiped off his face, his expression slightly hurt.


	2. Voices

**Disclaimer:** Gakuen Alice is owned by Tachibana Higuchi.

**Author's Notes: **The beginning is my favorite part, and the rest kind of makes me wince. Oh, well. Enjoy!

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><p><strong>Chapter 1: Voices<strong>

_"Life calls the tune, we dance." _― John Galsworthy

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><p>Mikan liked staring outside her window.<p>

She really couldn't see anything other than the sky, because the window was placed high upon the wall, the thick bars on it blocking almost everything. But if she moved her head slowly, from side to side, she could piece together the clouds, the stars, the sun.

Mikan knew there were trees; sometimes she could hear animals scampering across the leaves, chirping and twittering and chittering. It didn't mean she could see them. Weren't trees supposed to tower high, to reach towards the sky with their branches? Her window wasn't that high, so why couldn't she see at least the tops of the trees? Mikan didn't know, and when she was truly bored this was something she mused on.

Occasionally, Mikan could spot a bird or two swooping across the sky, their trills happy and free. But in all of the years Mikan had been inside her empty room, nothing ever came close. She used to think that maybe an insect would buzz in, at least, but it never happened.

Fidgeting slightly on her bed, Mikan watched dust motes lazily swirl in a shaft of warm sunlight. The sky outside was a pretty blue, the first streaks of yellow slowly making themselves known. She couldn't hear any animals outside, and the leaves weren't rustling. Everything was silent, which was always a bad thing. Silence made her mind wander, made her wonder about things.

Like who she was. Who her parents were. Why she was even here, and how she could know so much without ever being taught.

Mikan sighed; she didn't want to think anymore. There was nothing to think about, she told herself, because everything was always the same. Nothing changed. Nothing ever changed. She clenched her fists on her bed, scrunching up the sheets.

She wished she had a clock. At least it would go _tick, tock, tick_. It would have sounded like a metronome. If she had a clock, she would end up humming along, singing along. Her gaze strayed to her left.

Her instruments were propped up against the wall, ready to make sound, but Mikan was so restless she was afraid she would break them, just for something new to do.

The silence rang in her ears. Mikan had the abrupt urge to sing, dance,_ scream_. To stop the silence before the questions killed her. She was about to stand up when the uneven sound of _thump, thud, thump_ reached her ears.

Something outside cracked, suddenly, and the leaves rustled loudly, as if a large animal had just burst through the trees and had snapped a branch. There was heavy panting, which didn't sound entirely like a wild dog, or any other panting animal. Mikan furrowed her eyebrows.

Snickers went in the air. Mikan froze, listening to the entirely too human, too alien sound. The snickers morphed into full out laughter, until someone gasped out, "I think, I think we're in shock."

Mikan fell off her bed.

There was a beat of silence, and then another voice hissed, "What was that?"

"We should go. Come on."

"Wait, Natsume. This looks like a house."

"It looks like a prison," one voice said flatly.

"...There might be someone in there. They could have water."

"Knock it out, Ruka. Nobody would live in a place like that."

"Still..."

Mikan blinked rapidly, and rubbed her face. It felt slack. Was she hallucinating? Had she been so bored she'd descended into madness? No one had _ever _come near her room. She hadn't thought anyone ever would.

"Hello. Is anyone in there?"

Mikan jumped back, eyes wide, as someone knocked on the wall beneath her window. She took a deep breath and shakily went closer to the window. "Hello?"

"There's nobody there."

"Hello," Mikan said a little louder.

"Maybe they're... Maybe they're in the bath."

Mikan frowned. "Hello?"

"I don't care, we have to hurry."

"Hey!" Mikan cupped her hands and shouted, irritated. Why were they ignoring her? Was it on purpose? Did she do something wrong? The sudden silence that ensued pounded at her ears. Maybe she did do something wrong. "Um..."

"Do you have water?"

"And bread," Mikan blurted. Her stomach lurched, but it was pleasant, in a way; she was actually _talking _to someone else. "Just— Just wait a second." She dove under her covers and shut her eyes to sleep.

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><p>"It's been thirty minutes."<p>

"She said to wait. Don't go, Natsume—"

"It's been _thirty_ minutes."

"Boost me up, then."

Natsume narrowed his eyes at his companion. "Ruka," he said, annoyed. "Let's just go."

Ruka just stared at him expectantly. "I'm thirsty."

"Or maybe she died."

"Natsume!"

Natsume glared. The back of the castle which they had escaped from had been fifteen minutes away from the edge of the forest. "The guards are probably entering the forest again. With the bloodhounds, this time."

"And I need you to boost me up," Ruka said, raising a blonde eyebrow. "I can't just call one of the giant hawks to bring me up, can I? That would give us away."

Natsume chose to continue glaring at him, although he put his hands in front of him as a step Ruka could use to lift himself up onto Natsume's shoulders. Ruka bit down a smile as he took the offered help.

Inside the room, Mikan's eyes popped open when she heard an alarming shout. She jerked up from under her blankets, swaying a bit. "Wha..?" she grumbled. She had never been woken up by anyone before. That annoyed her to the extreme, and it seemed to annoy another person too.

"Ruka... What the hell?"

"She was asleep!"

"_What?_"

Mikan looked around. She spotted a flash of blonde hair near her window before she heard a thump on the ground outside. "Well, she's awake now..."

Mikan's eyes flitted to the middle of her room. She smiled. _The food and water!_ "Excuse me... I have the food ready!" she sang a bit nervously and grabbed the tray.

"Oh... Natsume, give me a boost again, please?" the boy said. Grunts followed the request and an eager face popped up at the window.

Mikan looked up. She couldn't really see him; he was too high up. "Um... How do I get it up to you?"

The boy frowned slightly. He looked at the tray. "Throw the bread up." She nodded, and did what she was told. He caught it, a little surprised at her strength to throw it all the way. "Thanks." He disappeared for a moment, and came back up. "Why aren't there doors?"

He almost laughed. Even though he was curious, he wasn't used to asking such questions to anyone but Natsume. What exactly was happening to him?

It was Mikan's turn to frown slightly. "Doors?" she echoed, an image of a swinging rectangular exit coming to her mind. "I— I don't have one."

On the other side of the wall, being stepped on by Ruka, Natsume scowled. Ruka was eerily showing his real personality to that— that _stranger_. Just to get a stupid loaf of bread that would probably get them thirstier. _And now they're talking about_doors_..._

He angrily bit into half of the bread Ruka had given him, swallowing it. Immediately, his shoulders relaxed and his sore limbs felt at their prime. He unconsciously let out a gratified breath of air. He blinked, staring at the bread in his hand. "Ruka..." he said.

Ruka kept talking, trying to think of ways with the girl to get the water up.

"Ruka," Natsume said louder.

"What?" Ruka glanced down. He blinked, a little confused.

Natsume looked countless times better. The determined light in his scarlet eyes was brighter, and he looked rested and ready to go. "We have to get going."

Ruka chose to ignore his statement, opting instead to stare at him. "You look better. What happened?"

The only reply he got was a piece of half-eaten bread thrown at his face.

He caught it before it fell. "Natsume?"

Natsume eyed the bread. "I have a hunch that the bread made my health enhance. Now eat it and let's carry on."

"Right now?" Ruka frowned, looking at him. "We have to get her out."

Natsume widened his eyes in disbelief. "What?"

"She has no way to get out. There aren't any doors. We can't just _leave_ her."

"That's suspicious. Why would she be in there in the first place?" Natsume scowled, wondering why Ruka even cared. "She's lying, whatever she said."

Ruka spoke to the girl again. "Eh? Do you remember how long you've been here?"

Natsume could hear a muffled voice squeak an answer at Ruka. "No..."

Natsume slit his eyes. _Hmph._

"Oh... Okay, do you have any idea how to get out of here?"

Again, the answer was no.

Ruka looked at Natsume pleadingly.

Natsume looked back at him dubiously. "What do you want _me_ to do?" he scoffed.

Ruka opened his mouth to answer, but his expression, suddenly, went blank as if it had been wiped clean. "I'm going to get off your shoulders now..." he said.

Natsume raised his eyebrows at him, but gladly held still as Ruka clambered off of him.

Once down, Ruka grabbed his head and started pacing. He glanced every then and again at Natsume, at the window. He was frowning. "What happened?"

"What happened?" Natsume echoed.

Ruka nodded, grim.

Inside the room, they heard the girl ask what was going on.

Ruka jumped back a bit. Then he turned his gaze back on his friend. "I suddenly... I don't know... got friendly with her." He looked at Natsume in blue-eyed bewilderment.

Natsume stared back. "You... couldn't control your friendliness," he stated carefully.

Ruka nodded, feeling rather stupid and confused. "Yeah."

Natsume shook his head. "Whatever. Get her out of there."

"But, we have to..." Ruka trailed off as he saw Natsume's firm gaze.

"You told her you'd get her out."

Ruka started to say something, but stopped. He smiled instead. "You're soft, you know?" Before his best friend could retort, Ruka demanded him to let him stand on his shoulders again. "Just a few more times," he said with a small smile.


	3. The Song

**Disclaimer:** I obviously don't own Gakuen Alice, Tachibana Higuchi's amazing characters, the songs/poems mentioned. However, Behind Those Walls' plot and mistakes are all mine!  
><strong>Author's Notes:<strong> Thanks to everyone who read or/and reviewed! I appreciate it. :) I expect I'll be able to make things clearer soon; these are only introductory chapters, I suppose. Everything will be explained in the long-run, and I can only hope that the thirty minutes thing wasn't too unrealistic. Also, I'm really,_ really_ sorry, everyone, for the terrible songwriting in this chapter. Maybe I'll change it in the future, who knows.

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><p><strong>Chapter 2: The Song<strong>

_"Every act of creation is first an act of destruction." ― Pablo Picasso_

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><p>Ruka was only high enough to have his forehead reach the bottom of the window, so he had to tilt his head upwards, straining to see into it. "I'm back," he said slowly. He looked down at Natsume, who was blankly staring at the wall as he held Ruka steady on his shoulders.<p>

"Oh!" The girl looked up from where she was standing, the cup of water in her hand. "Have you... found a way to get me out?"

Ruka gave a smile, though it was slightly alarmed. There it was again, that odd, unnatural feeling of friendship. And, why was he smiling? He gripped the iron bars tightly, feeling cold. "We haven't yet."

"Really, how are you going to get her out?" Natsume asked, almost teasing. He knew Ruka had no idea.

Ruka sighed. "I'll be right back," he told the girl, and quickly climbed off of Natsume's shoulders.

"Okay," came the reply. "I'll just... play some music then! Maybe it could help you think."

Ruka stepped onto the ground. Natsume took one glance at his upset features and raised an eyebrow.

"It's just," Ruka started. "I felt— I couldn't—" He fell silent.

"The friendly feelings came back?" Natsume asked, his other eyebrow joining the first.

"Yes," Ruka said shortly.

"Well, may—" Natsume closed his mouth so quickly it clacked as the first strains of a song came from inside the small, doorless building. They looked at each other, knowing the tune all too well.

The gentle notes were soft and deceptively sweet, gradually getting louder and rougher. The wordless melody thrummed in the air around them, pulsing with each strum of the guitar. Ruka let out a shaky breath, remembering all of the terrible (and _wonderful_) things that very song had brought him.

Ruka felt scared, naturally, but he also felt a deep-rooted excitement in hearing it again. "The song... Natsume! The _song_."

Natsume nodded, his eyes slightly widened in horror. "Yeah." He tilted his head upwards, and cupped his hands. "Hey... Hey, you! Don't sing that—"

"Play, not sing," Ruka said automatically, years of lessons with a strict governess catching up with him. "She's not singing."

Natsume shrugged it off, and said, "You tell her, then." But instead of calling her, to tell her to stop, Ruka started humming along. Natsume widened his eyes. "Ruka."

"I forgot most of the lyrics, it's been the longest time," Ruka stopped humming long enough to say aloud.

Natsume glared sharply at him, his scarlet eyes narrowing. There was absolutely no way Ruka had forgotten the words. It was the first thing everyone in their generation and the generation before had learned as children, before the song had been banned, the same way their grandparents had learned to chant the old rhymes of _Tōryanse_ and _Teru-teru-bōzu_ in their youth.

Ruka looked at Natsume. "But... I know you know the lyrics. Don't you, Natsume?"

"That's idiotic. They'll come and it'll be all over. Tell her to stop playing," Natsume said with a tinge of desparation, feeling more uneasy as the music played on.

Ruka frowned and fixed his gaze on the window. He started to sing along, right in time for the second verse.

_"The gold, crimson, and crimson gold, _

_Dust and dusty, wintry souls,_

_Growing evermore lion-bold,_

_Watching the stacked cards unfold."_

"The song's almost reaching your favorite part..." Ruka said, even though he didn't quite remember if the next part was indeed Natsume's favorite. "Just _say _a few lyrics, for old times' sakes." When he saw Natsume at the start of vehemently saying, _'No, are you a fucking moron?' _Ruka added, "I never thought you'd follow the rules at a time when we've already broken so_ many_."

They didn't notice the cracks in the wall becoming more defined.

Natsume grimaced slightly. Ruka was right, but he didn't have to rub it all in. Being exiled, being forced to run, losing his home— all for the sake of people he couldn't care less about. It was stupid. Just after thinking that thought, he finally gave in and said some lines completely for the sake of defiance. He could hear a soft voice — the girl's — stumbling over the words, trying to sing along with him and Ruka.

_"Press the alstroemeria to your lips,_

_Forget the hurt, fall in the bliss._

_Have a tight hold on each others' hands,_

_Spin and twirl to the beat of the dance."_

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><p>Mikan strummed the guitar, listening curiously to the two voices singing along to her melody. <em>Strange... <em>The words matched the notes perfectly, so perfectly it made her want to sing along as well.

What made it sound bad was the voice singing in a monotone. Or... maybe he was just saying it. Mikan wasn't sure. All she knew, deep down, with a conviction which seemed to come from the very roots of her soul, was that she could do it better. She hesitated, then tried to sing along to the unfamiliar words, managing to get at least one line right.

_"They sang and turned in a flowery room,_

_In their blindness, they brought doom."_

Mikan sucked in a breath as the bars in her single window bent and snapped, the pieces flying and slamming against the insides of the room. One of them hit her guitar, making her scream. She jumped up and the guitar dropped.

The walls started cracking and chunks fell to the ground. One rather large piece fell on her bed, another near her foot. She dodged the chunks of wall, screaming in terror.

Another stone fell smack onto her guitar, making a painful _twang _sound that wrenched Mikan's heart. She whipped around in time to see her pastel box crushed into several pieces, her pastels being ground into the stone concrete, almost like a morbid explosion of colors.

The walls collapsed, one by one, and Mikan didn't care anymore. She fell down onto her knees, shaking, and watched a pastel roll past her legs. It rolled in between the ruins, into the dark.

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><p>The boys stared at the ruined building with mounting horror. Ruka ran to the ruined building, with Natsume following suit. "Hey? Hello, are you there?" Ruka called frantically.<p>

They heard somebody cry out. The sorrowful wail made Ruka freeze. He glanced at Natsume, who looked uncomfortable as well. They followed the sound, quickly stepping over the rubble.

Sitting behind some broken down bits of a concrete wall, there was a slightly younger girl, staring wide-eyed at something.

Her auburn hair hung loose and silky in front of her face, not the kind of hair a person with her kind of story would have. But no, it wasn't a time to be skeptical. Her hazel eyes were large with disbelief and grief. Tears pricked at her eyes, and she didn't bother to wipe them away.

She covered her mouth with her hands and hiccuped.

"Are you alright?" Ruka asked.

"Obviously not," Natsume muttered.

She tried to say something, raising a finger to point at the thing she was staring at. They followed her gaze, and saw smashed remains of a guitar. Or at least what looked like a guitar. Near it were the remains of a small wooden box. Pastels, too, a rainbow image of broken pieces and smudged concrete.

Natsume picked up a small xylophone. "At least this is—" A key popped off with a terrible noise. The girl gasped and started sobbing. Ruka exchanged a glance with Natsume. Natsume handed the xylophone stiffly to Ruka and narrowed his eyes.

Ruka stared at the girl, who was trying to stop muffle her sobs by pressing her hands on her mouth. She was hiccuping again. He felt pity for her, because she looked as though she had everything she'd ever had destroyed.

Then again, looking at the girl's pristine, white knee-length dress, and glinting jeweled necklace, her claim was getting harder and harder to believe. He shook his head and looked at Natsume. "What now?" he asked.

Natsume glanced at the sky. It was turning a soft pink, with smudges of orange and red, which the girl noticed. She stared at the sky, wide-eyed, still sniffling. Natsume looked at the sun and back at Ruka. "It's almost dusk. We'll go now."

"But what about her?" Ruka asked.

"We can take her—"

"My— My name's..." The girl hiccuped again, wiping her eyes furiously. "Mikan."

Natsume looked her. "Whatever. We'll take the girl to the closest town and drop her off from there. Then we'll go to the place where we're headed," he said easily, careful not to give anything away.

"Right," Ruka said. He held his hand out to help Mikan up. "Let's go."

Mikan took it reluctantly, and stood up. "It's..." She looked around. "It's so odd!" she cried out, looking at the scene around them for the first time. Trying to block out the rubble. Her songs written on walls, most of them gone.

The trees were odd things, with low gnarly branches that seemed to make a fence around the clearing instead of reaching for the sky like she had imagined them. No wonder she had never seen then through her high window.

The sun was setting, giving a gentle, warm glow through the leaves, which made Mikan give a watery smile. Natsume and Ruka started onwards. Mikan took a tentative step— the soft grass made her weakly laugh. It tickled her so strangely. It was like nothing she had ever dreamed of.

In the distance, a bloodhound howled. The boys tore through the trees, and Ruka only looked back once to see if Mikan was following.


	4. Motion

**Disclaimer:** Gakuen Alice is owned by Tachibana Higuchi.

**A/N:** i'm so sorry for the wait! i just, i just like to think about circumstances sometimes involving fictional people and maybe sometimes start a fanfiction with multiple chapters _oh gosh what was i thinking_

**A/N 2: **also, thank you to everyone who reviewed/followed/favorited, and to everyone who's read this far.

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><p><strong>Chapter 3: Motion<strong>

__"There is another alphabet, whispering from every leaf, singing from every river, shimmering from every sky." ― Dejan Stojanovic__

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><p>Mikan froze and stared for two, stretching secods after the boys took off. "H-Hey, wait!" she cried, running after them.<p>

"Quiet!" one of them bit over his shoulder.

"But_―_"

A glare from the one with black hair made Mikan shut her mouth and run faster. But, _why _were they running? Wild dogs weren't that scary, were they? Although... Mikan had never heard howls quite like those she was hearing now. They were... cold, somehow, in a way the howls she was familiar with were not. More restrained, more controlled. Less feral than wild dog.

It was a pack that was making those noises, she could tell, but what about those sharp, whistling noises that pierced the air exactly three seconds before the howls?

With a slow-growing tendril of fear curling and twining inside of her chest, Mikan watched the pair of boys who ducked and skidded between outstretched tree limbs and condensed fauna as if their lives depended on it.

_What have I gotten into? _The thought came unbidden, the foreboding feeling that came with it unwelcome. A shudder going through her, Mikan ducked her head and voiced no more words.

Soon later, when the howls had faded away and Mikan had firmly packed her fear deep, deep down, they began to go through the thick part of the forest. Mikan found it hard to keep going, even though now they were only speed walking.

Part of it was because her legs ached like they never had before, smarting with every step she took, and because her lungs burned with the sharp, warm air she wished she didn't need, but another part. Another part was because Mikan wanted to stop _right there_ and stare forever, for eternity, at the beautiful, _beautiful _world that was rapidly opening in front of her.

From the bright, colorful spring blossoms that swayed in the breeze, to the sky that was a swirl of royal blue and molten gold, she noticed it all. Never in her life had she imagined to see such an array of colors outside of her pastel box. Never had she realized that the sky had always been so large. She had known, she had always _known_, but that didn't mean the same thing as understanding, and experiencing for herself.

Mikan wanted to fall to the ground and slide her hands on the earth, to feel the dirt get into the tiny crevices in her fingers, to imprint soil and clay and dust into her skin like constellations. She wanted to smell the flowers, rainbows turned touchable, silky, living, and she wanted to swing her hands through the ferns like the wind and hear them sing again and again and again.

The yearning Mikan felt as she went was overwhelming; it was a louder, more prominent repetition of the dull, hazy want for something more that she had experienced behind her walls. Yet now, Mikan knew what she wanted, and she knew she had the option to do what she wanted _― _at least, when she knew it was safe to stop.

And she owed it all to the boys in front of her, for destroying her home, her belongings, for possibly dragging her into something dangerous, for _setting her free_.

"Y-You know," Mikan started hesitantly between breaths, determining that at least now it was safe to talk. Her throat was parched, but she hadn't seen them drinking, so she didn't ask. "I didn't... catch your names."

"My name..." The boy with blond hair looked back. "It's Ruka."

"Thanks!" A bunch of leaves slapped Mikan's face, making her squeak. She rubbed her face in happy wonder, even though that had happened many times already. She turned her gaze back at them and waited for the other boy to introduce herself.

He stayed silent.

"Ruka... What's his name?" Mikan asked, pointing a finger at said person.

"He's Natsume," Ruka said. He paused, then: "Watch your step, there's a big root."

Mikan paused in step and looked at the nonexistent path. She let out a soft, heavy breath, which was grateful, tired.

There was the root; Mikan had been close to tripping. She had tripped many times at the beginning of their run, but had gotten the hang of it after her seventh or ninth fall _― _she'd actually tried to keep count so as to rein in her fright, but after her fear subsided, she had started to notice her surroundings, and that was that.

"I didn't see it," Mikan said, "It's almost night."

"It _is_ getting dark," Ruka said, looking at the dying hues of yellow and orange in the sky. "Natsume, we should stop. We don't want to get lost."

Natsume stopped on command, coolly scanning the place. "Fine. Let's go there." He cocked his head towards a small cleared patch of grass a few ways off. "We'll spend the night, and then leave early."

"We're going to sleep now?" Mikan asked, thankfully stopping. "There?"

Natsume made an affirming noise. "Although we could have reached a town by now, if you hadn't been so slow."

The words were meant to be sharp, were meant to hurt... But they were also true. Mikan flushed and squeezed her eyes shut.

She erked her head down in a sudden bow, still red in the face. "But I'm very thankful!" The girl swallowed her still-dry throat, and opened her eyes. "I would never, ever have gotten out... if it hadn't been for you both."

Ruka glanced at Natsume, whose expression was as hard as ever, except for his eyes. They were slightly narrowed. Ruka cleared his throat, turned to the patch. "Well, we should get some sleep if we're leaving early."

Mikan nodded. "Okay."

As soon as they sat down on the small patch, Mikan leaned back on a tree and stretched her limbs. "Ahh... I knew I was tired, but I didn't know I was _this _tired!" She closed her eyes and sighed.

Ruka sat cross-legged on Mikan's right, absently stroking a rabbit he had somehow acquired while walking to the patch. On his right, Natsume sat with his arms folded and his legs outstretched, staring at nothing.

Mikan sighed again.

It had been breezy all day, a welcome aspect as they pounded through the trees, but now, as the moon climbed higher in the sky and the temperature crept lower, the wind soon had them rubbing their arms for warmth.

"...I'll make a fire," Natsume murmured, fixing his gaze on the center of the place.

Mikan opened her eyes as soon as she heard a crackling.

A small fire was flickering in front of the trio. Natsume sat on his haunches in front of it, and somehow the quickly shifting light casting shadows on his face didn't seem out of place at all.

_Kind of creepy_, Mikan thought with a faint smile. She shifted closer and held her hands out, trying to take in some of the warmth.

Ruka let go of the rabbit and moved nearer. "Thank you," he said to Natsume, carefully, but there was a ghost of a frown on his face.

Natsume met his gaze, unmovable as stone.

Ruka tried to hold his stare, but then let out a tired breath, and looked away with a slight shake of his head.

Mikan, meanwhile, stared at the flames in bewilderment, moving her head from side to side. She looked in puzzlement at the fire, and then looked at the other two. She flapped a hand at it.

Natsume looked from Mikan to the fire, and sat up, starting to speak before she could ruin everything.

The question came out of her mouth, too quickly: "Isn't there supposed to be smoke?"

Silence.

Ruka's hand twitched.

Natsume leaned back, breathed in silently. "I guess not," he said, voice flat. He flicked his gaze at her. "You should remember you're not wearing pants, polka."

"What are you..." Mikan realized she had been sitting on her haunches too, unconsciously mimicking Natsume... in a _dress_. She let out a screech and sat down as quickly as she could, her face turning red from embarrassment. "_P-Pervert!_"

"You'll get us found, be quiet," Ruka said, desperately trying not to let his mortification show. He hadn't noticed until Natsume had pointed it out... But he also wanted to laugh at his best friend's way of changing topics. Ruka covered his face with a hand to hide a hopeless snicker.

Natsume looked at Mikan, clearly unimpressed. "It's not like I suddenly want to... _deflower_ you now." That was what girls called it, wasn't it?

"Pervert!" Mikan wailed again, and Ruka burst out in laughter.

* * *

><p>Hours later, Mikan blearily opened her eyes. "Mmh." She rolled to her back, and squinted past the thin canopy of leaves. The moon had moved only a finger's breadth from the last time Mikan had looked, so she hadn't slept for too long. She yawned, and sat up.<p>

Ruka was sleeping peacefully, with his head on pulled-up knees, the rabbit from before near his feet. It seemed to be sleeping as well. Mikan smiled at it.

Natsume was leaning on a tree again, sitting cross-legged.

_Is he still awake? _Mikan squinted.

His eyes were open, though half-lidded.

"Na... Natsume!" Mikan called in a whisper, saying his name for the first time. He didn't move. "Natsume!" she said louder.

Natsume didn't turn to look at her. "What?"

"Why are you still awake?" Mikan asked, confused. "It's unhealthy... Right?"

"Someone needs to be on guard," Natsume said. "So. Shut up and go to sleep."

Mikan frowned in worry. "I can do it. You must be tired... I've slept already. Then I'll wake up Ruka after a while. We can, we can take turns, you know?"

"No," Natsume said, sharp. "Don't bother Ruka. Just go to sleep, _polka_."

Mikan felt her face warm. "Will you _drop _that!" she cried in frustration.

"It wasn't my fault you decided to show_―_"

"Ah, no, stop! I'm going to sleep, I'm going!"

"Whatever. Idiot." Natsume turned his head to her, his expression indifferent yet somehow really, _really_ irritating.

Mikan growled to herself as she settled on the ground. She spent her remaining waking minutes glaring holes at him.

* * *

><p>The rabbit rubbed its furry face on Ruka. Ruka woke up, yawning loudly. The early morning sun was low in the sky, closer to the horizon than overhead, so the light was angled in a way that made Ruka wonder. He sat up and blinked, mildly surprised to see that Mikan was already awake.<p>

In front of him, Mikan was examining a long leaf of a fern, running her fingers over its roughly textured surface. She looked up. "Oh, you're awake! Natsume was gone when I woke up, so..."

Ruka froze, then quickly sat up. "Not... here?"

"No," Mikan said, placing the leaf down on the ground next to her. "But I don't think he left us. Even though he's terrible and evil and, aside from you, probably has _no _friends_―"_

"Shut up," Ruka said.

Mikan blinked rapidly. "Wha_―"_

"Don't talk about him like that," Ruka said with a glare, "Ugly."

"I_― _Hey, where are you _going_?" Mikan cried as Ruka stood up and disappeared into the fauna. "_Ruka!_"

"I'm going to _look_ for him, idiot," Ruka's faint voice came to Mikan's ears, already distant, impossible to pinpoint.

Mikan stared at where he had vanished, her mouth hanging open.

The leaves rustled on Mikan's opposite, making her jump. Natsume stepped past the trees, and stopped in his tracks when he noticed that there was only one person present _― _the one he couldn't care less about even if he tried. "Where's Ruka?" he demanded, distrust written all over his features.

Mikan opened her mouth. Then she closed it and turned away, crossing her arms. "He went somewhere," she said haughtily. _Like I'm talking to you, pervert! _She took a peek at Natsume's direction, and then regretted it immediately.

Natsume had covered the distance between them, his eyes flaming in anger. "I said, where the hell is he?"

Mikan's stubbornness got the best of her, over her fright. "N-Nowhere that concerns me?"

* * *

><p><strong>AN 3: **haha, oh mikan. you had to clash with the boys somehow. again, everyone, sorry for taking so long to update! i got stuck near the end, actually, though the descriptions of the forest and things in the middle(?) were quite fun to write.


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